Exceptionalism? More like hypocrisy

June 10, 2012|Stephen Goldstein, Columnist

The phrase "American exceptionalism" has given rise to another one of those specious litmus tests that right-wingers have concocted to (dis)qualify candidates and officeholders. Next to Grover Norquist's anti-tax, no-tax pledge, it's conservatives' sine qua non of loyalty tests — though the founding fathers knew nothing of it, would never have presumed to invoke it or have approved of it.

In fact, two foreigners (Alexis de Tocqueville and Joseph Stalin) coined it, but for dramatically different reasons. (Of course, President Obama's enemies have declared him an apostate to "American exceptionalism" and, therefore, unfit to be president. But that's another matter for another time.)

Briefly put, the chorus of yea-sayers alleges the United States is "exceptional" because our country is superior to every other one, bar none. From an unimpeachable moral high-ground, they claim a unique role in the world.

In the words of historian Gordon Wood summarizing the syndrome, "Our beliefs in liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being of ordinary people come out of the Revolutionary era. So too did our idea that we Americans are a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty and democracy."

Neoconservatives enhance the notion of "exceptionalism," claiming the nation rises to the level of the biblical "shining city on a hill," which sanctifies our doing just about anything with impunity simply because we are who we are.

Well, I beg to differ. I'm not buying any of that high-flying, self-righteous folderol — at least not in these perilous, hypocritical days in America.

These days, we are more reprehensible than exceptional — for touting our ideals while trampling them. Exceptionalism is as exceptional does. Everywhere, our collective actions undermine the foundations of our much-ballyhooed republic "of the people, by the people, and for the people"! We have stooped so low to conquer, there's no chance we can straighten up anytime soon.

Every 10 years, "the shining city on the hill" sinks deeper into the ditch. The reapportionment mandated by the Constitution we hold up as a quasi-divinely inspired document and model for other nations has been turned into a sham: the incumbents' guaranteed re-election scheme. No matter how hard "the people" try to get districts drawn without partisan bias, gerrymandering continues to maintain the status quo, putting the vested interests of political parties over those of "the people."

It's no wonder so many voters don't bother to go to the polls: They figure the system is rigged so their votes barely count — or don't count at all.

In addition, every election cycle, we belie our "exceptionalism" by redoubling our efforts to deny Americans from exercising their right to vote. Especially in recent years, more of us know first-hand the humiliation African-Americans felt for generations at polling places. We have lost any claim to the moral superiority to ensure elections around the world are fair and democratic, as long as voter suppression (masquerading as efforts to minimize virtually non-existent voter fraud) is rampant here. Campaigns play dirty tricks (jamming phone lines so supporters of candidates can't reach their offices) and say dirty words (lies and disinformation) in the name of protected, political, free speech. Furthermore, the "shining" Supreme Court on Capitol Hill has tarnished its image once again, sinking even lower than Bush v. Gore, when it absurdly ruled that corporations were people in Citizens United. The court's unexceptional, ideologically-driven majority could have saved itself from ignominy and the nation from being sold to corporate plutocrats if it had followed the unimpeachable logic of the syllogism: People bleed; corporations don't bleed; corporations are not people.

Crony capitalism and unbridled greed, violations of civil rights through state laws and constitutional amendments, constant assaults on the historic separation of church and state, shady legal justifications for domestic surveillance and treatment of alleged terrorists — we are a nation suffering a schizophrenia of our collective soul.

"Exceptionalism," no! Hypocrisy sí!

Until we put our own house in order, at the very least live up to the sanctimonious words by which we profess to live and govern, we have no right to claim superiority over anyone or anything. We have met the enemy to our lofty ideals, and he is us.

So, the next time you hear anyone professing to believe in our "exceptionalism" and/or condemning someone else for not doing so, remember how great we can be — but choose not to be.

Follow Stephen L. Goldstein on Twitter @drslgoldstein, or email him at trendsman@aol.com.